‘Rebel Ridge’s story feels all too real. Is it, though?

Netflix’s crime thriller Rebel Ridge is a hit that packs an all too realistic punch. Revolving around a former Marine’s fight with a corrupt small-town police force, the film feels like it’s been inspired by newspaper headlines. Is there a true story behind it all?

What is Rebel Ridge about?

Rebel Ridge is about a Black Marine veteran named Terry Richmond, who arrives in the small town of Shelby Springs with a bag of cash to bail his brother out of jail and buy a pickup truck. While crossing into town, Richmond is accosted by two prejudiced police officers who seize his hard-earned $36,000 despite the money being lawfully his. To secure his and his brother’s freedom, Richmond decides to take justice into his own hands, specifically by curling those hands into fists and pummeling everyone who had it coming.

Is the film based on a true story?

No, thankfully, Rebel Ridge is not based on a true story. The plot is fictional, despite feeling harrowingly real. Why does the film feel like it happened already? Because of all the painstaking research put into its plot. Despite the action being fictional, many of the shady police procedures in the film are indeed real, specifically the “civil asset forfeiture” by which the corrupt cops claimed Terry’s money.

What is civil asset forfeiture, you might ask? It allows police to seize the assets of civilians without due process or proof of criminal activity. Yes, it’s real. Meant as an anti-drug regulation, it means that the police can take your stuff if they think that you’re using it to commit crimes. Why does it hold up in court? Because money isn’t subject to due process. Money doesn’t have legal protections. Money doesn’t have civil rights, even if the people who lawfully own that money do.

According to director Jeremy Saulnier, it’s these real-life legal grey areas that inspire his films. “As with all my projects, I start out with a keen interest in a subject, then research the hell out of it,” Saulnier says in an interview with Netflix’s TUDUM. Saulnier goes on to say that most of his work revolves around “examining corrupt systems (and) how they persist.” How do they persist? Through ambiguous legal frameworks that can be twisted towards abusive ends—”civil asset forfeiture” laws are a case in point. Despite the fast-paced hand-to-hand combat sequences with slimy law enforcement personnel, the true villain in this film is the slow-moving bureaucracy with which true justice’s hands are tied.